have discharged their shot even in the hottest Piece of service and without the help of Musquet-rests And I suppose it needs be thought no Paradox in me to say that five ranks of Musqueteers can fire one after another without intermission and Five deep the first of the five be ready to fire again before the last have discharged let any Commander try it with expert Firemen he will find it will be done easily enough And that you may see that this is no new conceit of mine I shall tell you that Giovio informs us that at Vienna the twenty thousand Harquebusiers that were in the Christian Army were all marshal'd five deep and so made four thousand files It is without all peradventure that the best Commanders then in Europe were there who would not have permitted this if they had not known that the first rank could have fired and made ready again before all the other four had discharged neither must you impute this to the ignorance of the Historian as being a Churchman for he is so punctual as to write nothing of any Military action but what he had from the relation of the greatest Captains that were upon the place And truly if you will consider all I have said or all that may be said on this subject Reasons for it you may perhaps think with me that both Musqueteers and Pikemen may be marshal'd five deep with no inconvenience at all to the service I think I hear some speculative persons cry out that this is against the rules of all Tacticks who reject odd numbers as unfit for doubling But stay do you exercise for shew only or for use If only for shew I grant you should neither have odd ranks Objections against it nor files but if for use I say that five deep is better than six deep for those very reasons that made six deep better than eight deep and eight better than ten You say you cannot double your ranks at five deep what then I say you need not for I would have your ranks no fewer than five when you are ten Answered deep why double you your ranks is it not to make them five and thereby to enlarge your front and why then may you not be five ranks at first and thereby save your self the labour of doubling And as it is not at all necessary to double your ranks when your Batallion consists of no more but five ranks so I conceive the doubling of ranks not necessary when your Battel is but six deep for three ranks of Pikes is not strong enough either to give or receive a Charge nor are they numerous enough for Musqueteers to fire one rank after another without interruption it not being feasible for the first rank to fire and be ready before the third rank have discharged so that when six ranks are made three it is only for a parting blow for the Musqueteers to fire kneeling stooping and standing Now you may order the first three ranks of five to fire in the same fashion kneeling stooping and standing and you have by the bargain two ranks in reserve till the first three recover and those two ranks may afterward fire the first rank kneeling and the second standing and then all the five ranks have fired and are as ready either with Buts of Musquets or Swords to receive the enemy if he advance as the six ranks doubled in three and in far better order Either then your doubling of ranks is unnecessary in service or five deep at first is as good if not better as ten ranks to be doubled in five or six ranks doubled in three And though five ranks cannot be doubled the inconvenience of that is not so great as the advantages it hath of a large front and bringing many hands to fight and if upon any emergency which will fall out very seldom you conceive your front too large you may quickly help it The Authors private opinion by causing your files to double and then you are ten deep But I shall quickly part with this opinion when I hear a stronger argument against it than that which says that thereby ranks cannot be doubled for the truth is it is my private opinion that there be many superfluous words in Exercise and though I think doubling of ranks and files too sometimes convenient before the near approach of an enemy yet I hope none will deny that both of them are very improper in the time of service But Loquendum cum vulgo is a Golden sentence Well we have our Foot-Company no stronger than one hundred men and Seventeen Files in a Company of one hundred men divided into three parts whereof two are Musqueteers and Pikemen are glad to be admitted to make the third These must be marshal'd six in one file now seventeen times six is more than one hundred and sixteen times six is less than one hundred Add therefore three Corporals to the hundred Soldiers you shall have seventeen compleat files and one man over whom you may appoint to help the Ensign to carry his Colours for a Furer is not allow'd him in all establishments A Company being thus marshal'd in seventeen files eleven must be Musqueteers and six Pikemen to wit on the right hand of the Pikemen six files of Musqueteers and on the left hand five files The Captain is to teach his Soldiers to keep their just distances between file The several kinds of Distances and file end between rank and rank Distances are ordinarily threefold Order open Order and close Order The first of three foot the second of six the third of one foot and a half to which in some case is added open open order which is of twelve foot At Exercisings both ranks and files should stand at open order in Marches the files at order but the ranks at open order because of the Pikes which must have more ground than Musqueteers require and in service both the files and ranks of Musqueteers must be at order that is three foot distance but the Pikemen both in file and rank at close order that is at the distance of one foot and a half I must tell you in this place of a general mistake Mistakes in reckoning Distances and is the very same I accused Vegetius of in the Roman Militia and it is this All say that the files when they stand in Battel should be at order that is at the distance of three foot as indeed they should But if you ask how many foot of ground seventeen files whereof our Company consists possess in front they will immediately answer you fifty and one And here there is a double Distance of Files error first no ground is allowed for the Combatants to stand on for the distance of three foot between files takes up that one and fifty foot or very near it Secondly they make seventeen files to have seventeen distances whereas they have but sixteen This oversight I
injury done whether it be to Princes Subjects or Embassadours and that no satisfaction after it is required can be got And indeed this War should be formally denounc'd otherwise it derogates from the Justice of the cause This to me seems clear from the definition the Civilians give of an Enemy Hostes say they sunt qui nobis aut quibus nos bellum decernimus caeteri Indictio Belli latrones aut praedones sunt Those are enemies who either have denounc'd the War against us or we against them others are Thieves or Robbers And Cicero in his Offices Nullum Bellum est justum nisi quod aâ—t rebus repetitis geratur aut denunciatum ante sit indictum No War is just but what is made for restitution or denounced or indicted before Neither will the War that Joshua made against the seven Nations of the Canaanites impugn what I have said of the just cause of a War for though these Nations had perhaps done no wrong to the Israelites yet Joshua had a particular Warrant from God for what he Joshua his Wars did which few or none but he can pretend to It is true neither he nor Moses were commanded to fight with the Amalekites yet the Lord approved of it afterward The Grecians denounc'd their War by a Caducâ—us The Romans by their Feciales whose custome was to stand on the Roman Territory and throw a Spear or Javelin against the Land of those whom they declared Enemies In these later times besides the denunciation of the War a Declaration ordinarily called a Manifesto is emitted by the Aggressor whereby he either doth make the Justice of his War appear to the world or at least endeavours it And though the persons of Embassadours were wronged and violated against the Law of Nations yet the War should be denounc'd by a Letter or some such way saith Grotius yet we read not that David used any such previous civility to Hanun King of Ammon after he had affronted his Embassadours A Civil War may be likewise two-fold the one sort is of the great men of Civil War twofold a Free State one against another as that of Sylla against Marius Father and Son and Caesar against Pompey Father and Son among the Romans or in a Monarchy of those who are competitors for the Crown as the War was between the Houses of York and Lancaster The other is of Subjects against their Soveraigns which can never be lawful let the pretext be never so specious I mean on the Subjects part for I make no doubt but a Soveraign whether Prince or State not only may but ought by the power of the Sword to reduce their Rebellious Subjects to their Duty when by no other means they can prevail with them Both these kinds of Intestinâ— Wars are called Civil because they are inter Cives unius Reipublicâ— Among the Citizens of one Common-wealth It is the worst of all Wars and that wherein there is not so much as the least shadow of Civility This War arms Brother against Brother for which we need not search History for Examples In this War the Son thinks he doth a meritorious work if he betrays his own Father and the Father conceives he super-erogates if he sheaths his Sword in his Sons Bowels because saith he he did not rise to fight the Lords Battels even It is the worst of Wars perhaps against the Lords anointed for this War extinguisheth all natural affection among the nearest in Blood This sort of War sends Coblers and other Mechanicks to the Pulpits to torture their Audience with Non-sence This converts Souldiers into Preachers who by vertue of their double callings belch out Blasphemies against the great God of Heaven and rebellious and opprobrious Speeches against his Vice-gerents on Earth And on the other hand this War metamorphoseth Preachers into Souldiers and tells them that a Corslet becomes them better than a Canonical Coat and a broad Sword better than a long Gown It whispers them in the ear that Christ would not have bid those of his Disciples who had two Coats sell one of them and buy a Sword if he had not intended to leave War as a Legacy to his followers as well as Peace It tells them they ought in their Sermons to summon Subjects under the pain of eternal damnation to rise in Arms against the Soveraign Power because they are bidden Curse Meroz who would not come out to help the Lord against the Mighty Yet very few of them can tell you whether Meroz was a Prince a City or a Countrey But I dwell too long here Not long after the Flood we find numerous Armies raised by Nimrod and his ambitious Successors to subject others of Noah's race to their lawless dominion And indeed if the Stories of these very ancient times be true as they are very much to be doubted we read not of so great Armies except some in Holy Writ as those which Ninus and the famous Semiramis and the Kings of India whom she invaded brought together It is pity we should not know how they were armed and in what order they fought I suppose there were Wars in the World before there was any to record them The Egyptians wrote in Hieroglyphicks and therefore I believe next to Moses we are obliged to the Grecians for giving us a glimpse of Antiquity And truly even they wrote the occasions the causes the beginnings the progress and issues of Wars so confusedly and fabulously that we can Ancient Histories fabulous build but little on their relations till themselves became renown'd by the stout resistance they made against the Persian Monarchy and yet even then they give us but little light how other Nations besides themselves manag'd the War what Art or Order they used in their Battels or how their Combatants were Armed The Sacred Story mentions no Battel fought after the Flood or before it till that of Chaderlaomer and other three Kings against the five Kings of the Plain But we may presume there were many bloody bickerings before that when Nimrod Belus Ninus and Semiramis if Ninus was not Amraphel one of the four Kings whereof I much doubt impos'd the yoke of Slavery on so many Nations In this Battel fought in the plain of Sodom and Gomorrha the five Kings were beaten but how either they or their Adversaries fought with The Battel of Sodom what Arms or in what Order the History tells us nothing The Conquerours carry away a great booty and many Prisoners and among them Lot and the endeavouring his rescue made the War just on his Uncle Abrahams side He follows and overthrows the four Kings and brings back all the Goods and Prisoners Abraham had no particular Warrant for this War but it was approved for thereafter Melchizedec the Priest of the most High God blessed him nor was it needful for the Father of the Faithful to denounce the War because he look'd upon himself there as an Ally if not
Bodies in the Field as they are by him in Paper When the Phalanx presented their Pikes by half Files to Front and Rear the Greeks called it in that posture Amphistomus When the General commanded the Wings of the Phalange to advance and the Body to make a Bow or Crescent and in that posture to receive the charge of a Wedge Battel then it was called Antistomus And when by facing either by the Right or Left hand about the Rear was made the Front then the Phalange was called Peristomus And so of others needless to rehearse It may be I mistake in the Greek names as having indeed but very little knowledge in that Language CHAP. IX Of the Grecian March Baggage Encamping Guards and of their Paean ALL these belong to the Art of War of any Nation and none will doubt but the Grecians had set rules and orders for them all and every one of them which they did not alter but according to the circumstances of things and emergency of affairs on which depend most of Military actions Aelian gives us little light or indeed none at all in any of these particulars Most of them forgot by Aelian but leaves us to glean what we can out of History and thereon to build our own conjectures It had been convenient for us to have known the manner of their marching where or how the Horse the heavy and light armed and how far every day all of them were obliged to march as also whether the Chiliarchies which were Regiments of Foot and the Hipparchies which were Regiments of March Horse changed day about or if they march'd constantly in one place according to their Antiquity or Precedency For there is no doubt but their Ephipparchies which were Brigades of Horse and their Myriarchies which were Brigades of Foot might have chang'd Van and Rear every day by turns as easily as our Brigades do But since we are left by our leader Aelian in the dark I shall be of the opinion that being there were by Aelians account four Ephipparchies in the Cavalry and four Phalangarchies in the Phalange of the heavy armed Foot they chang'd day about and each of them had the Van every fourth day as also I think it was most consentaneous to Reason that there being four Chiliarchies in every Phalangarchy and four Talentinarchies in every Ephipparchy they likewise daily changed so that every Talentinarchy had the Van in the Ephipparchy every fourth day as every Chiliarchy had in the Phalangarchy I shall likewise believe that the Cavalry march'd either before behind or on the Flanks of the Foot Phalange according to the Enemies motions and so did the light armed Foot By these conjectures I do not offer to impose on any mans belief but leave him that liberty that I have taken to guess as probably as he can How far the heavy armed Phalange was bound to march in one day as I can assert nothing so I may only guess that they could be bound to march but twenty or five and twenty miles as the Roman Legionaries were and therefore I can hardly believe Polianus who saith Philip made his Phalange march in one day three hundred Stadia or Furlongs which make thirty seven Italian miles and a half you will think this the more incredible when you hear immediately what Baggage they carried Concerning the Baggage of a Grecian Army our Author gives us this account first that it was necessary to appoint a judicious and active person to have the conduct of it he saith well Next he tells us that sometimes the Baggage march'd in the Van of the Army and so I think it should if the Baggage Enemy were in the Rear Sometimes saith he it march'd in the Rear when the Army advanc'd towards an Enemy and good reason it should be so Sometimes saith he it march'd in the middle of the Army and there may be strong enough Reasons for that too But sometimes he saith it was order'd to march in the Flanks of the Army and so it might provided it had good Guards on the Flanks of it And lastly he avers the Grecians sent their Baggage sometimes before their Army when they were to enter iuto a declared Enemies Countrey And here I profess I do not at all understand the mystery of this Stratagem of War But I wish Aelian had clear'd us in this whether the Souldiers or Companies of Horse or Foot had Waggons Carts Beasts of Carriage Drudges and Slaves allow'd them to carry their Meat and Drink and Fardles or if they were obliged to carry all themselves for in my next Essay of the Roman Militia I shall let you see a Legionary carry three Magazines on his Head Back and Shoulders the first of Arms Stakes or Pallisadoes the second of Meat and Clothes and the third of Utensils for a Kitchin If of all these three the Greek was only obliged to carry his Arms he had a great advantage of the Roman in all marches and expeditions Yet I suppose my Reader may hazard with me to believe that before Philip of Macedons time the Grecian Souldiers carried no other burthens than their Arms but had The Grecian Souldiers carry'd no Baggage either Carriage-Beasts or Drudges allow'd them for carrying their Victuals and other necessaries and this conjecture I ground upon what I have read in Thucydides who tells us that at Syracusa after the unfortunate Athenians had lost their Navy in which were all or most of their provisions and that they were to march away by Land from the Siege of that potent City to seek new fortunes their Souldiers were necessitated to carry their meat themselves because saith the Historian they had mostly lost their Slaves and Drudges who were accustom'd to carry it and some few whose Slaves had stay'd still with them durst not trust them with so precious a thing as meat then was lest in that sad disaster they should run away with it and so starve them If then their Slaves ran away from Till Philip of Macedons time them then Slaves were allow'd them And it seems King Philip abrogated this custome for he caus'd all his Foot Souldiers to carry their Meat and Baggage themselves allowing only one Soujat to carry a Hand-mill for the use of ten Souldiers and a Drudge to every Horse-man this caus'd the other Grecians to call the Philippians Jumenta Philippi Philips Beasts of Carriage But for all that I have not Faith enough to believe Frontinus who saith that the same Philip caus'd his Foot to carry at one time Triginta dierum farinam meal for thirty days And if his Son Alexander kept up that custome as it is like he did then his Phalangites needed not to have yielded to the Roman Legionaries for heavy burthens in both long and wearisome marches which you will easily grant to be true if you will consider the indefatigable expeditions of that magnanimous King through Persia and India It seems Aelian hath not
Principes came back to their assistance but by this argument they needed not have been so many as six hundred because both the Hastati and Principes came back to their assistance and by this Reason the Principes should have been but six hundred because the Hastati came back to their help before they were obliged to fight But his second Reason speaks And why better sense which is That the Consul who ordinarily stood near the Triarii came with the Evocati of the Romans and the Extraordinarii of the Socii or Allies and joyn'd with the Triarii What these Extraordinarii were shall be told you in my Discourse of the Allies and what the Evocati were I shall tell you just now If you will believe Lipsius the Evocati were only of the Roman Nation but Evocati what I think I am obliged rather to believe Caesar who saith he had his Evocatâ— out of Gaule and at that time of his Civil War the Gauls were either Enemies or Auxiliaries at best Those of the Evocatâ— who were Romans were such as had serv'd out their time and by the Laws of their Militia were not bound to follow the War yet upon the Intreaty or Letters of the Consul Pro-Consul or General came without constraint to wait upon him or them in that expedition Some of them sery'd on Horse some on Foot and were put in Troops and Companies and had their Officers and Pay but were exempted from all manner of Military duties except fighting and attending on him who commanded in chief A great many of them went with Scipio to Africk three thousand of them went to Macedon with Titus Flaminius two thousand went with Pompey against Caesar And Augustus in one expedition had ten thousand of them Besides these Evocati there were Volunteers Roman Volunteers who having serv'd out their time were not ordinary Souldiers and not being call'd out by the Consul were not properly Evocati neither had they any pay but went to the War meerly of their own motion and free-will either to do their Countrey service or to acquire Riches or Honour to themselves and families or for all these three respects together Now there were besides all these Foot which I have mention'd some of Proletarâ—i what the poorer sort called Proletarii and Capite censi that were not admitted by Servius Tullius King of Rome to be enrolled for the War but were left to serve at Sea which at that time was esteem'd dishonourable in comparison of the Land service Yet in time of danger they were bound to take Arms which were given them out of the publick Magazines for the defence of the Walls of the City But in process of time they came to be enrolled in Legions particularly with Marius against the Tâ—utâ—nâ—s and the Cimbrians Livius in his eighth Book writing of that War which the Romans had with Rorarii and Accensi the Latines mentions Rorarii and Accensi in two several Bodies and he places them behind the Triarii they were call'd from the Rear according as the Consul or General had use for them They were the light armed Foot and had those names till the Romans besieged Capua in Hannibal's time then and there it seems they got the name of Velites and that they kept They were called Accensi because they were the meanest in the Cense and Rorarii à rore from Dew because in skirmishing they scatter'd themselves as Dew doth on Grass I shall tell you more of them in my Discourses of a Roman Legion Each of these three Classes of the heavy armed Foot was divided into Centuries Two Centuries made a Maniple three Maniples made a Cohort and ten Cohorts made up a Legion A Roman Legion was of greater or lesser Legion number according to the pleasure of the King Senate People or Emperour who was invested with the Soveraignty or as the exigency of the present condition of affairs seem'd to require Romulus ordain'd it to consist of three thousand men one thousand of each Tribe whereof there were but three in his time though afterward they came to be thirty five Whether the Kings who succeeded Romulus kept the Legion at three thousand Foot I know not but after Monarchy was banish'd the City Legions came to be four thousand strong sometimes five thousand and twice if I mistake not six thousand and two hundred Let us now speak of the several Bodies of a Legion and first of a Century A Centuriate and Centurion At the first constitution I doubt not but a Centuriate consisted of one hundred men and its Commander was called Centurion both the words being deriv'd from Centum a hundred But thereafter that band of men called a Centuriate in Legions of four thousand or four thousand two hundred which was most ordinary came to consist but of sixty men in the two Classes of the Hastati and Principes and but of thirty in the third Class of the Triarii In the Class of the Hastati there were twenty Centuriates at sixty men each of them and those were twelve hundred Just as many Centuriates and of that same number for the Principes made twelve hundred more In the Class of the Triarii there were likewise twenty Centuriates but each of these consisted but of thirty men which made six hundred in all three thousand heavy armed The other thousand or twelve hundred were Velites But though each of those Bands were but sixty or thirty strong yet they and their principal Commander kept their ancient denomâ—nations of Centuriate and Centurion There were sixty Centuriates in a Legion though Vegetius speaks of but fifty five which shall hereafter be examin'd The Centurion was chosen by the Tribune as I formerly told you and he had liberty to chuse his own Sub-Centurion A Sub-Centurion whose station was in the Rear and was indeed nothing but ouâ— Bringer up Polybius his Interpreter calls the Centurions Ordinum Dâ—ctores Leaders of Files or of Centuriates if Ordo be taken for a Centuriate as perhaps it was the Sub-Centurion he calls Agminis Coactorem and that is directly our Rear-man This will not make a Centurion and Sub-Centurion to be our Captain and Lieutenant as some would have them to be and if you will be pleas'd to consider that a Roman Centurion commanded but sixty some of them but thirty men and was himself no otherwise arm'd than the rest of the Centuriate only distinguished by his Crest and that he stood in Rank and File with the rest either on the Right or Left hand of the Front of the Maniple I suppose you will think with me that the Roman Centurions for the matter of either Power or Honour were no other than our Corporals Centurions our Corporals and their Sub-Centurions such as Lancespesats especially where Foot Companies are as in our own time they were in several places of Europe three hundred strong and consequently every Corporalship sixty men The Centurions badge was a
of the Author but since I intend not in this Treatise to present my Reader with any figures of my own I shall not trouble him with any that belong to another CHAP. XVIII Of several Figures of Armies used by the Ancients in their Battels IF a General or Commander in chief have not the choice of the ground where he is to fight he must marshall his army according to the advantages or difficulties of it But if he may make choice of the place of Battel then no doubt he may model his forces as he pleaseth without tying himself to any other prescripts or precedents of others Notwithstanding which he must be very wary not to cast his army in such a figure as carries along with it intricacy such as may make both the ordering and observing it difficult and more especially he was to be very shie of changing the Figure of his army in the time of action Dangerous to alter the Figure of an Army in time of action in regard that the bulk of an army is composed of such members as are for most part rude gross and of so dull understandings that they are not able in an instant to apprehend the reasons of sudden alterations or to dive into the designs of their great Commanders and therefore a change of the form of a Battel after an army is engaged may cast it into confusion which may quickly render it a prey to an attentive and vigilant enemy The Figures of Armies used by the Ancients not only Grecians and Romans but even of those Nations likewise whom both these were pleased to qualifie Five Figures of Batallions with the title of Barbarians were for most part of five kinds These were the Quadrate or Square the Wedg the Tenaille or Tongs the Saw and the Globe The Quadrate or Square they subdivided into three sorts to wit the Turrite the Lying Lateritial and the Simple Lateritial The Turrite was that Battel Quadrate Turrite whose height or depth was much greater than its front As draw up a thousand men six deep let them face either to the right hand or left you shall see them but six in front and a hundred sixty six deep it is the Quadrate Turrite so called because its height or depth makes it look like a Tower it was but seldom used and indeed it is very useless The Simple Latrice is where all the Latera or sides of the Battel that is front Simple Lâ—teritial Quadrate reer and both flanks are of a like extent One hundred men drawn up ten deep gives you the Simple lateritial Quadrate because it is a Battel equal on all sides it is also called the Aequilateral quadrate of this form were the ancient Egyptian Battels as I have told you in the Grecian Art of War ten thousand of their men Marshall'd a 100 deep made them a 100 in front a 100 in reer and a 100 in each flank so that face them any way you please still they were a 100 in front The lying Lateritial square or quadrate is a Battel in which the front is of a Lying Lateritial Quadrate greater extent than the flank or where there are a great many more men in the rank than in the file as 16000 men after the Grecian way Marshall'd 16 deep gives you a front of 1000 men and the flank but of 16. And this was usually both the Grecian and Roman way of Embattelling and continues so still in our Modern armies So when you read in story that an army march'd in a Quadrate form as Livy speaks both in his Second and Thirteenth Books and Salust also says that Marius marched against Jugurtha with a Quadrate army you are to understand it that they marched in order of Battel ready to fight and that the form of their Batallions was Quadrate but do not imagin they were Aequilateral or Simple lateritial It is from the Quadrate form which the Romans call'd lying lateritial consisting of four angles that our word Squadron hath its denomination a word used now for any thing I know in all Europaean Languages By what I have said it appears that though it were granted to Terduzzi as it is not that the Romans drew up their Foot twelve deep yet that will not conclude their Terduzzi nicely curious Batallions whether lesser Bodies or greater to have been Aequilateral quadrate as he would have them to be for in their Maniples drawn up as he would have them twelve deep since every one of them consisted of an hundred and twenty men they could make but ten Files now ten in front and twelve in file makes no more an Aequilateral Batallion than a hundred twenty men Marshall'd ten deep and twelve in front can represent that figure This lying lateritial quadrate whereof I now speak is that form of Battel whereof Vegetius is to be understood when he speaks of a quadrate army with a long front The Wedg I have spoke of in my discourses of the Grecian Militia but I would not have my Reader to imagin that these Wedg-battels spoken so much of in ancient Histories were such as are painted to us beginning with one man then Wedg-figure two next three and so to the end of the Chapter though that method might be well enough observed in a small body either of Horse or Foot but they were Batallions condensed and at close order the point consisting of a good many men yet pointed because the Body grew broader and broader till you came to the Reer where it was broadest for to imagin that in the heat of the fight any Batallion of the most experienced Soldiers can be suddenly cast into so punctual a form as first one then two by the readiest General that ever was is a Speculation never reduced or reducible to practice And so you are to understand the Wedg in which the Theban Epaminondas cast some of his Infantry at the Battel of Mantinea whereby he broke the Laconians was not a flim-flam of one two three and four he had no time to tell straws but a good massie body of men perhaps of fifty sixty seventy or a hundred in front growing greater till it came to the end This Wedg-battel consisted of three angles the foremost point making one and the broad end furnisht the other two and indeed it is a Triangle but not an aequilateral one I told you in another place out of Livius how the Celtiberians had well near routed the Praetor Fulvius by their Wedg-battel till he defeated them with a desperate Charge of unbridled Horses He who thinks that this Wedg-battel of these Spaniards How it is rightly to be understood began with one man at the point and by equal degrees came to a great many at the end of the Wedg hath a strong imagination Livy in his twenty second Book calls that Batallion of Macedonians who stood ranged in Battel within the Walls of Cenchrea to receive the Assailants when the Roman
hundred But in Aemilius his Army against the Macedonian Phalanx the Legions were of six thousand whereof the Triâ—rii according to Polybius being only six hundred the Hastati and Principes must have consisted each of two thousand and the Velites must have been fourteen hundred And by this account Aemilius his Hastati would have possest in Front above five thousand foot of ground so it is clear that the Hastati of the weakest Consular Army out-wing'd the Macedonian Phalange and thereby was able to fall upon its Flanks supposing still which cannot he deny'd me that the Roman Cavalry gave the Grecian Horse work enough and they carrying short managable Arms might easily disorder the Phalangites being once enter'd within their great Body so that the Principes and Triarii coming up fresh to the medley would not find much difficulty to make that great bulk a prey Observe likewise if you consider the great Intervals of the Roman Maniples all the Phalangites who in Battel met with these Intervals were useless for they had no Enemy to fight with These conjectures of mine I have presum'd to add to Polybius his weightier considerations But notwithstanding all that is said for the Legions advantage over the Reasons why a Phalanx rightly order'd had the advantage of a Legion Phalange I am bold with submission to Polybius to say If the Phalange be order'd as I spoke of in my Discourses of the Grecian Art of War that is not so deep as sixteen and consequently of a larger Front and thereby not so apt to be surrounded or out-wing'd and with Reserves I conceive not only those conjectures of mine but all Polybius his reasons will come to nothing or signifie little Neither indeed can I at all be perswaded to believe that so soon as the Legionaries were enter'd at the void places within the Ranks of the Phalanx that presently they were Masters of it for though the points of those Pikes within which the Romans were come were indeed useless yet so were not the points of all those Pikes that were at a convenient distance from them besides I hope it will be granted that a Legionaries offensive weapon the Sword was no more servicable to him at that close fight than the Sword of a Phalangite was to him that carried it for it is not imaginable that he was bound to keep his Pike longer in his hand than it was useful for him nor his Sword in its sheath longer than it was time to draw it in defence of his life And what I now speak of a Phalange not so deep as sixteen and consequently of a greater Front among the Grecians and of Reserves which the Romans call'd Subsidia is no vain speculation of mine for I have formerly demonstrated the truth of it out of good Authors though I confess I am convinced such Phalanges were not at Cinecephala where Q. Flaminius beat Philip the Father nor at Pidna where L. Aemilius beat Perseus the Son both Kings of Macedon To confirm my opinion that the Legion by its constitution had no advantage Roman Army beat by Xantippus a Grecian over a Phalange rightly order'd I shall use the authority of Polybius against Polybius for he in his first Book relates to us how the Carthaginians in the first Punick War were brought so low that they were ready to accept any reasonable conditions of Peace till they gave the command of their forces to Zantippus a Lacedaemonian that had come out of Greece with some mercenary Laconians and was one of those who in this age are called Souldiers of Fortune who making use of the Grecian Rules which he had learn'd in his own Countrey marshall'd the Carthaginian Army in several Bodies of Horse and Foot each to second another adding the help of his Elephants and chusing the most Champaign grounds he could extended his Front to so great a length that the Romans using their accustom'd order were out-wing'd surrounded and totally routed by him and the Consul Attilius Regulus with five hundred more Romans were led Captive into Carthage Here Xantippus meerly by the Grecian Art of War worsted the Romans who made use of their own Art But I will go a greater length may not we imagine that Amilcar in the And by Amilcar and Hannibal who followed Xantippus his Art pursuance of that first Punick War and his Son Hannibal in the beginning of the second imitated Xantippus and manag'd the War according to that pattern he had left behind him I suppose we may believe it If this do not prove that the difference between the Grecian and Roman Art of War did not always make the one Nation victorious over the other then take more Instances Pyrrhus King of Epirus at his first coming into Italy with a Grecian Army And by Pyrrhus Grecian Arms and Art of War did beat the Romans in Battel so did he the second time A fancy took him to arm his Souldiers after the Roman fashion and then he was beaten by the Romans Hannibal when he came first to Italy beat the Romans in set Battel and I believe with these kind of Arms and that order of War which Xantippus used in Africk and consequently Grecian But Polybius tells us in his seventeenth Book that the same Hannibal To what Polybius attributes Victory armed all his Carthaginians after the Roman manner no doubt with those Arms that he had taken from them now as he had beaten them formerly with Carthaginian and Grecian Arms so he beat them frequently afterward with Roman Arms. Therefore this noble Historian in that place doth not attribute Hannibals Victories to any advantage his Souldiers had either in Arms or Art over the Romans but to his own singular Prudence his Courage and Conduct and extraordinary Qualifications and to use Polybius his own expression His Capital Engine But when saith he a Roman General equal in abilities to him came to command the Roman Armies then Victory flew from Hannibal over to Scipio But let us ask the question Why so Since both Captains were equal in Valour and Conduct and if there was any odds the Carthaginian no question had it because of his long experience and almost matchless policy in feats of Arms and that there was but little difference in their Arms or manner of Militia Here Polybius is at a stand and gives no reason for it but that Fortune would have it so What Fortune was to him that is Providence to us He was ignorant of what the wisest Eccles Ch. 3. and Ch. 9. of men said long before the foundation of Rome was laid That there is a time for every purpose under Heaven a time to kill and a time to heal a time to gain and a time to lose And in another place That the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong nor favour to the men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all And indeed that happeneth to all and to
not marshalling the Battel and Reserve in this order at the Battel of Woodstock fought in the Error aâ— Woodstock Battel year 1636 was either the Swedish error or mistake for Banier who commanded the right wing of the Swedish forces being overlaid with numbers had been undoubtedly beaten if the Battel and left wing had not prevail'd so soon as he saw the danger he sent Post after Post to Lieutenant General Vizthumb who commanded the Reserve commanding him to advance instantly to his succour but he made no great haste the Swede having obtain'd the Victory Vizthumb next morning is question'd for his slow advance he justified himself by making it appear that if he had advanc'd immediately those who were running away in Troops would have routed him at least have so disorder'd him that he could have done no service and therefore he stood firm in his first ground till all the runnaways were past him and then march'd up in good order Most of this was known to be true but if Battel and Reserve had been marshal'd in the manner I spoke last of there had been no danger of that whereof Vizthumb was afraid for there had been room enough for him to have advanc'd and for those who fled to have run away But it seems it was order'd otherwise But we shall marshal an Army both ways first with the lesser and next with the greater Intervals and we shall suppose our Army to consist of sixteen thousand Army of 16200 Horse and Foot divided into seven Brigades of Foot and six of Horse Horse and Foot and a few more We shall draw them up in a fair Campaign or Heath which hath very few or no encumbrances of Houses Trees heights or hollow places and the right hand of it shall be fenced with some unfordable water and the left with the Waggons of the Army The Army it self shall consist of seven Brigades of Foot and six of Horse Each Brigade of Foot shall consist of 1800 men in all 12600. The six Brigades of Horse shall consist of 3600 which being divided into six parts gives 600 Horsemen besides Officers to every Brigade in all 16200. In the first way of marshalling I shall allow as I should do one foot of ground for every Foot soldier to stand on and three foot distance between files but because some think this too much have patience and at my second marshalling of the army I shall allow them less though no less belongs to them To every Horseman I allow four foot of ground for himself and the distance between him and his sidemen Some will think it too much but Bockler allows him six this is too much at next marshaling I shall allow him less than four On the right wing of the Van guard or Battel shall stand two Brigades of Horse and on the left wing as many and between the wings the Body shall be Marshal'd in Battel and Reserve with lesser Intervals composed of four Brigades of Foot On the right wing of the Reer-guard or Reserve shall stand one Brigade of Horse and on the left wing another Brigade of Horse and between the two wings the Body shall be composed of three Brigades of Foot The length of the Battel you may compute thus every Brigade of Horse being six hundred and drawn up three deep consists of two hundred Leaders for each of these four foot are allowed that is eight hundred Multiply eight hundred by four which is the number of the Brigades of the Battel the product is 3200. Three Streets or Distances each of eight foot-broad must be allow'd in every Brigade inde twelve Streets in four Brigades these make 96 foot then you have two Intervals on the right hand one between the two Brigades of Horse and another between the Horse and the right hand of the Foot and as many you have on the left hand of the Battel in all four great The Longitude of the Battel computed Intervals each of them of 24 foot for more some will not allow inde 96 foot add 3200 to 96 and both to 96 you will find the aggregate to be 3392. And so much ground doth the four Brigades of Horse possess with their Intervals Each Brigade of Foot consisting of 1800 men being six deep hath 300 Leaders these possess 1200 foot 1200 being multiplied by four which is the number of the Foot-brigades of the Battel produceth 4800. There must be a distance of six foot between the right hand of the Pikemen and the right wing of the Musqueteers and another on the left hand these two Distances take 12 foot and therefore four Brigades require 48 foot Now four Brigades have three Intervals each of 24 foot inde 72. Add then 72 for greater Intervals to 48 allow'd for lesser Distances the aggregate is 120 add 120 to 4800 the aggregate is 4920 so much ground doth four Brigades of Foot possess with their Intervals Be pleased to add 4920 to the 3392 Foot which the four Brigades of Horse possest you will find the aggregate to be 8312 foot which being divided by five to make paces the Quotient is 1662 and two foot so much ground do our four Brigades of foot and four Brigades of Horse take up in front the Intervals between Brigades being allowed to be no greater than 24 foot According to this allowance the Reader may easily calculate the longitude of the three Brigades of Foot and two Brigades of Horse which make the Reer-guard or Reserve if he conceive it worthy of his pains To marshal our Army of 16200 men another way in order to Intervals I shall in the first place allow no more ground to either Foot-soldier or Horseman Marshal'd in Battel and Reserve with greater Intervals for himself and distance from his sidemen but three foot in all But for the great Interval between two Brigades I shall allow as much ground as a Brigade may stand on that the Brigade in the Reserve may possess it when order'd to advance You will remember we agreed that four Brigades of Foot and four of Horse should make the Battel and three Brigades of Foot and two of Horse should make the Reserve which I marshal thus On the right hand of the Battel two Brigades of Horse but between them an Interval of as much ground as one of the Brigades possesseth On the left hand of the second Brigade of Horse an Interval of 24 foot on the left hand whereof four Brigades of Foot marshal'd in one front these four must have three Intervals each of them capable to contain a Brigade of Foot on the left hand of them an Interval of 24 foot and then two Brigades of Horse with such a distance between them as that the two Brigades on the right wing had The Reserve I marshal thus One Brigade of Horse drawn up at a convenient distance directly behind the Interval between the two Brigades of Horse on the right wing of the Battel Then on its